Decision on Listing Polar Bear Postponed - AP

Source: Associated Press

Decision on Listing Polar Bear Postponed

Monday January 7, 2008 6:16 PM

By DAN JOLING

Associated Press Writer

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Federal officials said Monday that they
will need a few more weeks to decide whether polar bears need
protection under the Endangered Species Act because of global warming.

The deadline was Wednesday, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said
it now hopes to provide a recommendation to Interior Secretary Dirk
Kempthorne in time for a decision by him within the next month.

Environmental groups that petitioned to protect polar bears, arguing that
warming threatened their habitat, said they would go court to ensure a
timely decision.

-snip-

Listing polar bears as “threatened” with extinction could trigger limits
on development that adversely affects the animals. That listing is a step
below “endangered,” the most severe classification under the Endangered
Species Act.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7205137,00.html